Covering the Corridor
The Towns at South Alex in the Penn Daw area are already under construction. New retail construction will start later this year, inculding an Aldi grocery store.
Initial construction on the South Alex development in Penn Daw is expected to get underway before the end of the year, a representative for developer Combined Properties said Wednesday. The development will include 41 townhomes by Craftmark Homes (already under construction) and a new Aldi discount grocery store anchoring a retail area.
Combined is currently in the process of closing on the construction loan for the project, which will include 400 apartments and 44,000 square feet of ground-level retail space anchored by Aldi. Another Aldi is already open further south on Richmond Highway near Hybla Valley.
“While I was hoping to be thankful at Thanksgiving for [closing the loan], it will have to be an early Christmas present.” Combined’s Justin Johnson said at the Richmond Highway: Embark on Opportunity event hosted by the Southeast Fairfax Development Corporation. “We’re about 30-60 days away from closing our construction loan.”
Located at the intersection of North Kings Highway and Richmond Highway, South Alex is the first mixed-use development to come to the Penn Daw area.
The project also includes 41 townhouses which are already under construction in the rear of the property. Those townhouses — known as the Towns at South Alex — are being built by Craftmark Homes and will be selling from the mid-$700,000 range.
The front of the South Alex site has seen little activity since the old Penn Daw Shopping Center was demolished in 2016. The main holdup for construction was securing an anchor grocery store, with a deal with The Fresh Market falling apart in the summer of 2016. In January, an agreement was struck with Aldi, a growing discount grocery chain that currently has eight locations in the City of Alexandria and Fairfax County.
This article originally appeared on CoveringTheCorridor.com, Richmond Highway's independent news source.
